Guide to the Kantishna oral history project records
1910-2001
Collection number: HMC-0125.
Creator: Gudgel-Holmes, Dianne.
Title: Kantishna oral history project records.
Dates: 1910-2001.
Volume of collection: 1.7 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials in English.
Collection summary: Historical materials and research files related to the Kantishna region.
Organizational history:
The Kantishna Oral History Project was begun in February, 1983, under the direction of Dianne Gudgel-Holmes. The primary goal of the project was to accumulate various obscure historical, photographic and oral materials to supplement the oral history of Abbie Joseph, a Koyukon-speaking Athabaskan born in the 1890s, from the Kantishna region. One of the project activities involved interviews with elderly people who had lived in the study area. The project was funded with grants from the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Alaska Historical Commission, and the National Park Service.
Collection description:
The collection consists of copies of transcripts of oral history interviews with people who lived and worked in the Kantishna area; copies of Bureau of Land Management Land Files and copies of Native allotments; copies of 1910 census records for the lower Tanana Valley/Upper Kuskokwim area, and the Cook Inlet area; selected Episcopal Church records pertinent to the Lower Tanana Valley; Federal Aviation Administration records concerning the airfield at Lake Minchumina; civil/criminal and naturalization records from the Fairbanks Court concerning the Lower Tanana Valley; various reports and information on the Kantishna area from the Alaska Historical Library; various records on the Kantishna area from the National Archives; probate/death records from the Kantishna and Fairbanks Recording Districts; information on trappers and trapping statistics in the Lake Minchumina/Kantishna area; and material from the Byron Gordon Collection of the University of Pennsylvania. There are also personal papers (diaries, correspondence, notes) from people who lived and worked in the Kantishna area.
Arrangement: The collection files are arranged alphabetically by name or subject.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Use restrictions: As the Archives does not hold rights to the collection contents, materials may be subject to copying restrictions.
Preferred citation: Kantishna oral history project records, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Extended inventory and index: Print copies of an extended inventory and index are available in the first folder of the collection.
Acquisition note: The collection was presented to the UAA Archives by Dianne Gudgel-Holmes in 1984.
Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Dianne Gudgel Holmes in 1984.
Location of originals: While many of the interviews were done specifically for this project, many of the other materials in this collection were copied from private collections or collections at other archives and libraries.
Container list:
| Box/Folder | Individual or subject | Description of records |
| 1/1 | Inventory and index. | |
| 1/2 | Albert, Tom and Dinah | Interview notes. Nenana residents. |
| 1/3 | Alford, Laura. | Interview transcripts. Fairbanks resident. |
| 1/4 | Avery, Willis | Interview notes and photographs. Former FAA employee at Lake Minchumina. |
| 1/5 | Boatman, Susie | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 1/6 | Bureau of Land Management land files | Selected land-related photocopied records from BLM files and other sources. |
| 1/7 | Brooks, James | Interview notes. Former Kantishna trapper. |
| 1/8-12 | Census 1910 Alaska | Photocopies of census records for lower Tanana Valley/Upper Kuskokwim villages, mining camps, and towns. Also some from Cook Inlet area. Assorted reference notes included. |
| 1/13 | Charlie, Eli | Interview notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/14 | Charlie, Winnie | Interview notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/15 | Chiamis, Sam | Interview notes. Anchorage resident. Former railroad construction worker. |
| 1/16 | Coghill, Jack and Frances | Interview notes. Nenana residents. |
| 1/17 | Coghill, Winifred | Interview transcript. Nenana resident. |
| 1/18 | Collins, Dick and Florence | Correspondence and notes. Lake Minchumina residents. Former FAA employee (Dick.) |
| 1/19 | Cruickshank, Moses | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. Former guide for Episcopal missionaries. |
| 1/20 | David, Rosie and Jonathan | Interview notes. Minto residents. |
| 1/21 | Duyck, Percy and Greta | Interview notes. Nenana residents. |
| 1/22 | Edwin, Lee | Interview notes. Tanana resident. |
| 1/23 | Edwin, May and Jason | Interview notes. Tanana residents. |
| 1/24-29 | Episcopal records, 1892-1930 | Selected photocopied records pertinent to the lower Tanana Valley, including annual reports of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, articles from newsletters, correspondence, Bishops’ confirmations, Hudson Stuck diary notes and letters. |
| 1/30 | Esau, Lizzie | Interview notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/31 | Evan, Hester | Interview notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/32 | Federal Aviation Administration | Lake Minchumina photocopied records including a history of airfield and station construction, facilities records, description of FAA archival films. |
| 1/33 | Fairbanks court, civil, criminal, and naturalization records | Selected photocopied records on the lower Tanana Valley including records from the Kantishna Recording District. Includes land records, trading site claims, mining deeds, quite claim deeds, and naturalization applications. |
| 1/34 | Folger, Willie | Interview notes. Tanana resident. |
| 1/35 | Frank, Helen | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 1/36 | George, Ed | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 1/37 | George, Paul | Interview notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/38-42 | Giles, Frank | Includes diary copies, grocery list, correspondence, photographs, and clippings. Minchumina trapper (1918?-1933) and gold miner at Copper Mountain (Mt. Eliason). |
| 1/43 | Granroth, Kenny | Correspondence. Lake Minchumina trapper. |
| 1/44 | Hansen, Mary | Interview notes. Delta resident. |
| 1/45 | Health/disease/epidemics | Incomplete photocopy: Aronson, Joseph. “History of disease among the Natives of Alaska.” Transactions and studies of the physicians of Philadelphia, 1940. |
| 1/46 | Hult, Carl | Kantishna trapper from the late 1930s to circa 1949. Diary. |
| 1/47 | Jimmie, Daniel | Interview notes. Minto resident. |
| 1/48 | John, Elsie and Peter | Interview notes. Minto residents. |
| 1/49 | John, Margaret | Interviews notes. Nenana resident. |
| 1/50 | Joseph, Abbie | Interviews transcriptions. Tanana resident. Draft of transcription by Eliza Jones Dianne Gudgel-Holmes, not to be copied until after publication. |
| 1/51 | Juneau | Alaska Historical Library and Archives research. Photocopied articles and data, economic survey, Commissioner of Education statement, fur farming information. |
| 1/52 | Ketzler, Caroline and Hank | Interview notes. Nenana residents. |
| 1/53 | Koegh, Leo | Interview. Nenana resident. |
| 1/54 | LeFebre, Charlene Craft | Field notes from a 1949 archeological excavation at Telida, correspondence, and articles. Washington state resident. |
| 1/55 | Lettis, Nelson | Interview notes. Anchorage resident. Former railroad employee. |
| 1/56 | Lind, Knute | Interview notes and correspondence. Tenakee Springs resident. Former Minchumina trapper. |
| 1/57 | Linguistics/Native place names | Notes, vocabularies, and maps. |
| 1/58 | Luke, Howard | Interview. Fairbanks resident. |
| 1/59 | Luke, Teddy and Agnes Moore. | Interview notes. Tanana residents. |
| 1/60 | Mahanay, Elsie | Interview notes. Nenana (Clear) resident. |
| 1/62 | Miners/mining | Journal and news articles. |
| 1/63 | Miscellaneous articles and publications | |
| 1/64 | Monroe, Emily | Interview transcript. Nenana resident. |
| 2/1 | Native allotments/homesteads | Notes and photocopies. |
| 2/2 | Natural resources and disasters | Biology and ecology articles. |
| 2/3 | Parker, Walter and Patricia | Interview notes. Anchorage residents. Former Minchumina residents and FAA employee. |
| 2/4-5 | Photograph files | |
| 2/6 | Probate and death records | Includes selected probate records, death certificates, newspaper obituaries, guardianship petitions, and undertakers’ certificates. |
| 2/7 | Reckord, Holly | Washington D.C. research materials. |
| 2/8 | Riley, Harry | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 2/9 | Roadhouses/trails | Selected travelers’ names from the Diamond and Rainey Pass Roadhouses registers (photocopies). |
| 2/10 | Sherman, Irene | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 2/11 | Silas, Abbie | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 2/12 | Simpkin, Helen | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 2/13 | Sims, Jimmy | Interview notes. Nenana (Clear) resident. |
| 2/14 | Starr, Alfred | Interviews notes. Nenana resident. |
| 2/15 | Titus, Frank | Interview notes. Fairbanks resident. |
| 2/16 | Titus, Matthew | Interview notes. Minto resident. |
| 2/17 | Titus, Robert and Elsie | Interview notes. Minto residents. |
| 2/18 | Trappers, trapping, and statistics | Correspondence, research articles, clippings, and maps. |
| 2/19-28 | University of Pennsylvania Museum, Byron Gordon collection. | Includes correspondence with Museum staff, scope and content description of the collection, artifact and photograph catalog cards, articles, and notebooks. Traveler to the area in 1905 and 1907. |
| 2/29 | Westover, Ralph and Bea | Interview notes. Anchorage residents. Former FAA employee. |
| 2/30 | Reginald White family | Family letters and excerpts from diaries, incomplete. Lake Minchumina. |
| 2/31 | White, Sam O. | Notes. Alaska territorial game warden. |
| 2/32 | Whitehead, Fred | Correspondence. Tenakee Springs resident. Former trapper and gold miner from the interior of Alaska. |
| 2/33 | Wickersham, James | Selected notes from diaries. |